Grant Avenue fire 'tests our faith,' Jersey City pastor says

The Rev. Joyce Watterman delivered some heart-rending words this morning at the funeral for the four members of the Pickett family who died in a tragic fire last Thursday in Jersey City.

Watterman, an at-large member of the City Council, honored the Pickett family as hundreds of mourners crowded inside Mount Olive Baptist Church to pay their last respects. She said that the victims’ deaths “tests our faith,” but she encouraged the community to stay strong.

“Sorrow heals all wounds, and that’s true, but you’re going to have a scar and it’s with that scar that we remember our loved ones,” Watterman told the crowd.

The Rev. Bishop William Pickett, his wife, Eula Mae, both 81, and their sons, Thomas, 55, and Curtis, 53, died when a fire broke out in their Grant Avenue home on March 6. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, D-Jersey City, said today that she was asked to speak on behalf of the entire state senate.